Interpretation
of Isenheim Altarpiece

One of the greatest
Renaissance paintings of the 16th-century, this complex polyptych
altarpiece was created by the German artist we now know as Matthias Grunewald,
about the same time that Raphael was decorating the Vatican in Rome. Painted
for the hospital chapel of Saint Anthony's Monastery at Isenheim, near
Alsace, it is among the most famous religious
paintings of the Northern
Renaissance (1430-1580) and resides in the Unterlinden Museum at Colmar,
in France. A combination of Gothic
art, powerful expressionism
flavoured with Hieronymus Bosch-type imagery, and the latest Renaissance
painting techniques, it was painted five years before Luther nailed his
Protestant theses to the door of Wittenberg Cathedral in 1517, yet it
perfectly captures the torment of the early 16th century. Grunewald's
intensely realistic imagery and iconography were no doubt inspired by
the revelations of St Bridget of Sweden, published in a best-selling devotional
book during the 14th and 15th centuries. Although popular in the more
down-to-earth north of Europe, they were less acceptable to the mainstream
of the Roman Church in Italy, with the exception of austere fanatics like
Savonarola (1452-98). In
this sense, Grunewald's tortured masterpiece is the polar opposite of
contemporary Italian
High Renaissance works such as Raphael's graceful and harmonious Sistine Madonna (1513-14).

The Commission

The set of panel
paintings known as The Isenheim Altarpiece was commissioned
by the preceptor Guido Guersi for the main altar of the Antonite Monastery
near Colmar. The monastery specialized in the care of plague sufferers
as well as the treatment of skin diseases like ergotism (St Anthony's
fire) - an intensely painful burning sensation in the arms and legs, caused
by eating cereals contaminated by ergot. This accounts for the presence
in the painting of both St Sebastian (patron saint of plague victims)
and St Anthony Abbot (the patron saint of the hospital's order), as well
as the ravaged body of the crucified Christ. The latter image, deliberately
pitted with plague-type sores, was designed to provide solace to hospital
patients by showing that Jesus understood and shared their painful afflictions.

Composition

The Isenheim Altarpiece has a fairly
complex construction. It is an old sculpted altar, made by Niklaus Hagenauer
(1445-1538) and consisting of three carved wood statues of saints, to
which six wings (painted by Grunewald) have been attached - three on each
side. Four of these wings are hinged and painted on both sides; the other
two are static and painted on one side only. All this allows you to change
the displayed image according to the day. If you close all the hinged
wings, you see a Crucifixion, flanked by Saints Anthony Abbott
and Sebastian at the edges; if you open up one pair of wings you see an
Annunciation, a Nativity, and a Resurrection; open
up another pair and you get Hagenauer's polychrome sculptures of St Anthony,
St Jerome and St Augustine, a picture of St Anthony with St Paul the Hermit,
and one of St Anthony Being Assaulted by Demons. While the Crucifixion
is sombre though livid, the other panels are marked by Grunewald's vivid
Renaissance
colour palette, as well as his extraordinary devil-imagery.

The Isenheim Altarpiece Crucifixion

In this monumental work of Biblical art,
Grunewald's dark and harrowing portrayal of the Crucifixion shows a horribly
wounded, twisted Christ, nailed to the cross. As one critic describes
it: it is the most beautiful painting of ugliness in the history
of art. Christ's flesh bristles with jagged splinters, as well as
the developing sepsis and necrosis. Paradoxically, his nail-pierced hands
seem to acquire movement through rigor mortis. Jesus is flanked,
on the left, by a kneeling Mary Magdalene and a grieving Virgin Mary being
comforted by St John the Evangelist, and on the right, by John the Baptist.
At the feet of John the Baptist is a lamb bearing a cross, whose blood
flows into a goblet, symbolizing the union between the Old and New Testament
as well as the redemption of mankind. (Compare Jan van Eyck's Ghent
Altarpiece, c.1432.) Below the Crucifixion panel, a predella
represents The Lamentation.

Saint Anthony Abbott Assaulted by Demons

This panel depicts the story of St Anthony
who was attacked and so badly beaten by demons that his servant assumed
he was dead and was about to bury him. But St Anthony regained consciousness
and ordered his servant to take him back to his attackers so that he might
receive more punishment. In the painting, he lies on the ground overwelmed
by the ferocity of the devils, who are tearing his flesh with their teeth,
claws and horns, until a brilliant light appears along with an angel sent
by the Lord, to scatter his assailants and ease his pain. Inspired by
the grotesque images of the earlier Dutch painter Hieronymus
Bosch (c.1450-1516) and the Colmar engraver and painter Martin
Schongauer (c.1440-91), Grunewald illustrated his story with numerous
examples of bizarre monsters, including one or two decidedly humorous
examples, showing that even angst-ridden German religious painters had
their lighter moments.

The Isenheim Altarpiece Today

Now displayed at the Unterlinden Museum
in Colmar, one of the best art museums
in France outside of Paris, the altarpiece has been dis-assembled so that
all the panels can be viewed independently. Some wood
carving is missing from the top and bottom of the work, due to vandalism
which occurred during the French Revolution, when the entire painting
was nearly destroyed. The Unterlinden Museum is also home to an important
collection of Upper Rhenish medieval and early religious
art, created by a number of artists including, most notably, Martin
Schongauer, who is represented by several altarpieces and numerous drawings,
woodcuts and engravings.

Other Paintings
By Matthias Grunewald

Little is known about the painter of The
Isenheim Altarpiece, except that his surname was not Grunewald. Recent
search indicates he used the two surnames Gothardt and Nithart - sometimes
on their own, sometimes together. No one knows why he became known as
Grunewald, but the name wasn't used before 1600, some 70 years after his
death. If his name sank into oblivion, so did his reputation as one of
the great Northern
Renaissance artists. In fact, it was not until the emergence of the
expressionism movement in the late 19th century that his work aroused
any great interest. Since then, however, his reputation has soared, and
he is seen as one of the best history
painters, if not one of the best
artists of all time. Other major paintings by Matthias Grunewald include:
The Small Crucifixion (1511-20, National Gallery of Art, Washington
DC), Virgin and Child (1518, Stuppach Church, Wurzburg), Christ
Carrying the Cross (c.1523, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe), and
Lamentation (c.1523, Stiftkirche, Aschaffenburg).

Famous German/Austrian
Renaissance Altarpieces

Here is a short selected list of the most
famous triptychs and polyptychs of the German Renaissance.